2006-09-27

Developed by epidemiologists in 1988, the NNT was heralded as a new and objective tool to help patients make informed decisions. It avoids the confusing distinction between "relative" and "absolute" reduction of risk. The NNT is intuitive: To a savvy, healthy person with high cholesterol that didn't decrease with diet and exercise, a doctor could say, "A statin might help you, or it might not. Out of every 50 people who take them, one avoids getting a heart attack. On the other hand, that means 49 out of 50 people don't get much benefit."

2006-09-25

“For me, there’s anger and paranoia and fear for others — for the safety of food we get that’s supposed to be monitored,” Ms. Krause, 47, said. “I don’t know what to trust. Should we grow it all ourselves?”

No, and you probably shouldn’t feel guilty about being part of the mainstream American foodchain (or even the élite wholefoods version thereof). But there is something you could have done – know your farmers, preferring local to faraway and in-season to convenient. That represents a massive shift in the way most people buy produce.

I’ve been annoyed since this spinach story broke at how the news continues to cover the problem as if it is at all relevant that it happened to have come from spinach this time, as if we can run from mass-produced spinach to mass-produced bagged romaine and all will be well.

2006-09-23

As web-based and other electronic data collection methods become more widely used in research, the opportunities to use statistical software in conjunction with conventional database systems are increasing. Among such systems, MySQL is particularly well suited for research purposes. For example, MySQL's ENUM and SET column types are ideal for storing data collected via the multiple choice questions typically used in social surveys. At the same time, Stata is uniquely suited for working in conjunction with a database; for example, its implementation of characteristics makes it possible to preserve (in a usable form) important information about how the database and front-end application are constructed (e.g., column types and other attributes). In this presentation, we shall describe a Python script we have developed for translating data from MySQL to Stata, and will indicate briefly how we are using it in the development of tools for the collection and management of research data.

2006-09-21

BOSTON (Reuters) — Graduate business students in the United States and Canada are more likely to cheat on their work than their counterparts in other academic fields, the author of a research paper said on Wednesday.

2006-09-20

I am not alone in my dislike of the new blue iTunes 7 icon. My problem is only that the color blends in with other apps, requiring a good deal more visual processing than should be expended on switching apps. See how it blends in with other stuff? Not cool.

2006-09-19

''This is a really important time for you all right now,'' Combs said. ''This is the time that is going to dictate your future.''

The 36-year-old founder of Bad Boy Records looked the part in sunglasses and flashy jewelry. He called some students on stage and talked to them one on one about their goals. His advice: work hard and stay in school.

2006-09-14

Center for Information Technology Policy Voting Study: "This paper presents a fully independent
security study of a Diebold AccuVote-TS voting machine, including its
hardware and software. We obtained the machine from a private party.
Analysis of the machine, in light of real election procedures, shows
that it is vulnerable to extremely serious attacks."

Quietly and without fanfare, or even any comment or notice by software pundits, we have drifted into a situation where almost none of the millions of personal computers in America offers a line-programming language simple enough for kids to pick up fast.

And yet, they are tantalized! Ben has long complained that his math textbooks all featured little type-it-in-yourself programs at the end of each chapter -- alongside the problem sets -- offering the student a chance to try out some simple algorithm on a computer. Usually, it's an equation or iterative process illustrating the principle that the chapter discussed. These "TRY IT IN BASIC" exercises often take just a dozen or so lines of text. The aim is both to illustrate the chapter's topic (e.g. statistics) and to offer a little taste of programming.

What about “try it in R”? It was invented as a free and accessible teaching language for people to not have to buy S+, and it would be perfect for elementary math texts IMO. It can be used interactively, and offers a lot of room for growth (unlike basic).

What to Expect When You’re Expecting Dinner - New York Times: “‘Is everything all right?’ The main course has been served, and the waiter has just asked us this question. I’ve had exactly one bite of my main course, which is just enough for me to remember that, as usual, the main course always disappoints. I am beginning to wonder whether this is a metaphor, and if so, whether it’s worth dwelling on. Now, suddenly the waiter has appeared, pepper mill in one hand, Pellegrino in the other, and interrupted an extremely good story right before the punch line to ask if everything is all right. The answer is no, it’s not.”

2006-09-11

2006-09-10

macosxhints.com - OS X tips and tricks!
: "Since they all pretty much look the same from my VNC/Timbuktu/Apple Remote Desktop window, it's hard to know where I am when I log in. I can't tell which one is an Xserve, and which is a Mac mini...
"

macosxhints.com - OS X tips and tricks!
: "The defacto standard in Terminal's shells is meta-b (backward) and meta-f (forward) for word-by-word movement. In every other Cocoa app, however, it's Option-left arrow and Option-right arrow. I wanted Terminal to behave the same way.
"